Dyadic Relationships between a Surviving Parent and Children in Widowed Families: A Systematic Scoping Review

Abstract

The death of a family member affects not only individual family members but also their relationships and interactions. Grief has been studied mostly as an intrapersonal experience. Adopting the family perspective, this systematic scoping review focused on parent–child relationships in widowed families so as to identify what is already known on this topic and the research gaps for future study. The review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA‐ScR) guidelines. Four databases (Web of Science, Psycinfo, PubMed, and CINAHL Plus) were searched. Search terms were combinations of two concepts: (1) loss of a parent (20 terms) and (2) parent–child (eight terms). 5,419 studies were identified during the search, of which 36 studies were included in the review following two rounds of screening. Four research themes emerged, and the aggregated findings were identified: (a) The surviving parent and children are likely to become closer following the loss of a parent, while other relevant factors need to be taken into account; (b) Better parent–child relationships play a protective role in children’s adjustment to loss; (c) The surviving parent and children’s adjustment to loss are interdependent; (d) Through parenting, communication style, coping strategy, and other attributes, the surviving parent can influence their children’s adjustment. Gender and age differences were identified in parent–child relationships. The findings further justify the importance of a family perspective when conducting research and practice on bereavement. Several research gaps were identified. Existing studies paid insufficient attention to children’s agency and bidirectional relationships, and the interaction process and its role underlying parent–child bidirectional causality. A conceptual framework of parent–child relationships in widowed families is proposed based on these findings.

Associations between parental depression, communication, and self-worth of siblings bereaved by cancer.

“…However, we identified family-level risk factors (i.e., maternal depressive symptoms, poor quality mother-child communication) that predicted lower self-worth. This study adds to a small body of literature examining bereavement from a family systems perspective and highlights the importance of considering multiple family subsystems when seeking to understand bereavement experiences (Jiao et al, 2021;Morris et al, 2016).…”

The Role of Extended Family Relations and Rituals in Family Resilience Following Loss of Mother to Cancer: A Case Study in Turkey

“…Yet this particular family was able to demonstrate emotional strength. Grieving families are affected by loss based on the emotional integration of the family at the time of loss; (Bowen, 2004) and despite the devastating experience, there might be a potential for family members’ growth (Walsh, 2006) and improved relationships (Jiao et al, 2020).…”

“…Loss affects both individuals and relationships among the individuals. Both individual and relational factors should be studied because family members grieve in the family even if there are individual differences among family members (Gilbert, 1996; Jiao et al, 2020). Nevertheless, there are not many studies that focus on both family and individual experiences of loss.…”

From i-coping to we-coping: A retrospective qualitative study on parent–child dyadic coping in widowed families.

“…These empirical studies indicated the role of parent-child interactions in bereavement adjustment. However, as summarized in a recent systematic review, previous studies focused more on the parent's influence on children, while mutual interactions in the process of a widowed family coping and its influence on both parent and children are still less explored (Jiao et al, 2021).…”